CIA's warning over shoe bombs

A catalogue of security blunders allowed the man pictured below to board a Transatlantic jet with a bomb in his shoe.

He is bearded and of Arabic appearance; other passengers thought he was 'looking blank' and acting suspiciously.

He was travelling from Paris to Miami supposedly for a ten-day stay but had no luggage.

He had tried to board the same flight the previous day but was held back for security checks. And his British passport, in the name of Richard Reid, had apparently been issued three weeks earlier, in Brussels, a city notorious for forgers.

Yet he was allowed to board American Airlines Flight 63 on Saturday morning with enough C4 plastic explosive in his Reebok trainers to blow a hole in the side of the Boeing 767 over the Atlantic.

Only the heroic intervention of a stewardess and passengers prevented him from becoming another suicide bomber, killing all 185 passengers and 12 crew aboard.

The man was said last night by Scotland Yard to be a British citizen although FBI officials named him as Sri Lanka-born Tariq Raja, 28.

The FBI said preliminary laboratory analysis of his shoes had found two functional explosive devices.

As Raja was questioned in Boston, where the plane was diverted after the foiled bombing, it emerged that America's Federal Aviation Administration had warned airlines two weeks ago that terrorists might try to board planes with explosives hidden in their footwear.

The warning was based on intelligence gathered from CIA and FBI agents.

A terrorist handbook found in Afghanistan last month, used by Osama Bin Laden's Al Qaeda organisation, included instructions on how to make a bomb which could be carried in the heel of a boot or trainer.

The plane was four hours into its flight when a stewardess saw Raja strike a match and try to set fire to one of the laces on his black Reebok trainers.

It is believed the shoelace may have been a fuse to set off the explosives moulded into the heel of the shoe. She tried to stop him and screamed for help.

Raja, who is 6ft 4in and 16 stone, bit her on the hand. Passengers and crew went to her aid, hitting him and eventually overpowering him and restraining him with belts and ties.

He was injected with sedatives kept in the plane's medical kit. Two F-15 fighter jets escorted the plane to Boston's Logan airport.

Raja was put on a holding charged of interfering with an aircraft crew, pending inquiries into whether he is connected with Bin Laden. He will appear briefly in court today.

The incident is a huge embarrassment for American Airlines, which had two of its aircraft involved in the September 11 attacks.

As weary passengers finally arrived in Miami at 6am yesterday, some said pony-tailed Raja had stood out before boarding at Charles de Gaulle Airport.

'He had a blank look,' said Nicholas Green.

Monique Danison, 20, said: 'He looked like he was on something. I remember thinking, if he's a terrorist, he's a moron because he stood out when I saw him.'

Kwame James, a 6ft 8in professional basketball player, said a flight attendant had called out: 'We need some big guys back there real quick'.

'I helped to hold him down. He was unbelievably strong. He fought off three or four of us.'

French police said that Raja - also known as Abdel Rahim - had tried to take the same flight on Friday but was pulled aside by police after raising suspicions.

Following questioning, however, he was given the green light to board - but by then he had missed the flight.

'American Airlines should have had a warning in its computer system telling it to detain Raja for further questioning before letting him board,' said an FAA source.

'He should have been turned over to the same French authorities who interrogated him the day before and they would have noticed that he was now travelling without any luggage. That would have been reason enough to stop him flying.'

Last night the real Richard Reid was traced to a house in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire. He confirmed that a passport in his name was involved - but denied he had helped Raja.

He said: 'This was nothing to do with me,' but refused to answer further questions.

His next-door neighbour said he was a 'very normal bloke' who ran an engineering business with his brother, making trolleys for garden centres.

He was unaware of Mr Reid having any Asian friends and certainly no connection with Al Qaeda.